


Determination

by MimiIvory



Series: Of Dust and Dead Children [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Baking, Comfort Food, F/F, F/M, Fantastic Racism, Food, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Second Person, Possible Character Death, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is old, Reader-Insert, Stress Baking, asgore is in jail, gender neutral reader, monster racism, reader is a monster, reader is tall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MimiIvory/pseuds/MimiIvory
Summary: Someone needs to tell the families how their children died. You can do that, Right? Sure you can! (Oh my goodness, you do not want to tell these parents that their kid died. Well, they aren't all parents. Would they have met their great-great aunt? You do not know how humans work) Read the first part before this one.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Human Souls & Reader, Original Character/ Original Charater
Series: Of Dust and Dead Children [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967281
Comments: 16
Kudos: 45





	Determination

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Thought](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/699622) by Tratser. 
  * Inspired by [This, You Protect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1752638) by [owlet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlet/pseuds/owlet). 



> Light Blue- Patience-Paige Walker-Great-great aunt of Maria Dunlop-Scones  
> Orange-Bravery-Robert Adamson-Great uncle of Russel Adamson, and Gloria Adamson-Cookies  
> Dark Blue-Integrity-Adelaide Carson-Aunt of Kalem Montgomery-Apple bread  
> Purple-Perseverance-Alex Holman-Auncle of Bettiana Holman-Muffins  
> Green-Kindness-Gregory Mathews-Brother of Joanna Mathews-Cupcakes  
> Yellow-Justice-Dalton Feeney-Son of Suzanne and Joseph Feeney-Angel's food cake

Paige Walker. Robert Adamson. Adelaide Carson. Alex Holman. Gregory Mathews. Dalton Feeney.

These are the children whose families you must find, to tell them of their children's deaths. You hope they know already. Surely not all of their parents can be alive, right? Most monsters weren’t even alive when Paige fell down. You still don’t call her Paige to her face. You don’t call any of them by their names. Their names were something that they had when they were alive, and now they’re dead. You did not know any of them when they were alive. You met Frisk, once. You see them around now that the barrier is broken and the ghosts are gone. You do not hate them for it. They set everyone free, which was everything everyone was hoping for. Except you. But you do not begrudge them for that. You mostly try to stay out of their way. You don’t want them to feel burdened for your loss.

Asgore is in prison. He reported the murder of six children. They arrested him. The government appears to be working in conjunction with the new royal scientist to run some tests.. Don’t remember who it is. Nothing too inhumane, he was in a hard situation, but he seems to volunteer for everything. You just hope he keeps from dusting, locked up on the surface. You hear Frisk visits sometimes. This does not startle you.

Frisk still has the little ghost friend around. They are very sassy. You think that they might be Chara, just by process of elimination, but you aren’t sure who to ask, or how much the ghost will threaten you if you’re right, so you decide to keep this startling revelation to yourself.

You got the job pretty easily. Toriel asked who wants to go and inform the families of their children’s death. Your hand is the only one raised, other than Frisk. You tell them, politely, that since everyone is out, you can send the letters. They pout, but agree.

Toriel asks you what your connection to the missing children is. You tell her, politely, that you could see their ghosts, and wait for somebody to call you crazy. Undyne does, although she also says that you would probably be a good choice for the job, despite it, given the fact that you protested the human’s death. She says that if she had listened, it would have saved her a lot of trouble, but then she wouldn’t have befriended Frisk, so she’s not sorry. You appreciate the sentiment. Papyrus tells Undyne that it is rude to call people crazy.

Frisk signs that they can trust you. Toriel looks sceptical. Sans chimes in, that he thinks he saw one of them. You wonder if you should ask Napstablook. Toriel asks how that occurred. You out Sans as the Judge to his unbelieving friends and family. You are somewhat unsurprised.

Toriel decides that you would be the best choice for everyone. You ask if somebody can get to work on tracking down their families. Everyone promptly remembers that they do indeed have to find these people, and Undyne volunteers her girlfriend, Alphys, Who you are pretty sure you have never seen before in your life. Ah, well. You don’t spend much time talking to people.

Alphys was apparently the one who was running determination experiments on the dust of the Guard monster you accidentally contributed to the death of. You ask if she would have worked with your father's dust, if you had given it. She stares at you in horror, and then begins to choke. You attempt to give her CPR, before remembering that she is a monster and that only works on humans. Toriel, you’ve been spending too much time with bravery. You throw healing magic at her instead. It’s not very good healing magic, but you haven’t had enough reason to practice since school, because you can cook healing food, and even when you have no motivation and are low on will to live, it never tastes like you do. Well, to anyone other than you. You resolve to cook something for everyone in Toriel’s court when you’re done with this. Oh gosh, You have to track down people to tell them about their dead children.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nope, you’re going chronologically. You might be a bit of a procrastinator, but you say you need to work your way up to telling parents their kids are dead. Wow, human lifespans are quick.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Humans change their names a lot. You find Maria Dunlop, great-grandniece of Paige Walker, in an apartment complex with her girlfriend, Rebecca Conley. She is one of the first people outside Ebott to see a monster, other than the uncounted ones you pass along your journey, including the bus drivers that got you here, two hours away from the mountain. If you were less duty-bound, and full of wanderlust, you would be having the time of your life. You are not having the time of your life. When greeted with your giant frame in her doorway, she takes one look at you, up and down, notes the scones, and motions you inside. You are pretty sure you didn’t bring enough scones for this.

She sits you down in her kitchen. It is a nice kitchen, one wooden table with two chairs, and a softer, larger chair in the corner. You are offered the larger chair. Human furniture is small. The walls are as blue as the echo flowers that cover Waterfall. She does not react very much to the passing of her great-great aunt, but she does appear to be happy that Asgore is in jail, because he would have murdered the young one that set the monsters free. She asks you how you knew, and her girlfriend hugs you until you stop crying. You thank them, and are very glad you got some of that out of your system before you had to meet actual parents, with a dead child. You do not have a letter for them. You do have a phone, though, and you tell them that they or any members of their family who want information can call you. Rebecca assures you that she will make sure to tell Maria’s family.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank Toriel there’s only one of those.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You might have to reconsider what makes something a bad visit after being threatened. With a gun. Russel Adamson is apparently very protective of his family, very afraid of monsters, and not appreciative of your cookies. Maybe you should have tried scones again?

In any case, you endeavor to search down a less threatening member of the Adamson family. He pointed a gun at you and told you to back away, slowly. You did so. You heard him musing if a gun would kill you. You did not want to mention that the umbrella next to him could do the job perfectly fine with the murderous intent he had bottled up. You take your cookies with you. You eat the cookies once you are on the next bus home, to steady your nerves, and also because you risked your life. They are your favorite. You are not sure if Russel deserved your cookies, but then again, you gave Asgore your cookies, and Russel probably hasn’t murdered any children. At least Asgore didn’t threaten you. That would have made everything a lot harder.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gloria Adamson is a bit easier to find then Maria was. You are slightly more anxious, because you really don’t want to get shot, and people in this family have a tendency to have weapons. At least Orange-- Robert had a boxing glove instead of the gun. If he had the gun, then you are not sure if you would have come without Undyne escorting you. You have not informed anyone but Napstablook about the fact that you were threatened. You should visit Napstablook more often. He seemed so surprised to see you. You are still not sure if he could see the ghosts or not. One of the great mysteries of life, you suppose.You have brought a lot of cookies this time. You bake when under stress. Also, surface ingredients are varied. You have dark chocolate, chocolate chip, peanut butter, m&m, lemon poppyseed, and more, all packaged in different containers. This is the closest thing you have to a plan. You have then in a pack like the sort you have seen children.

Gloria does not answer the door. Her husband does. His name is Peter. He asks you to call him Pete. He asks why you are here. He seems confused that you are there to repost the death of his wife's great uncle. He tells you that they knew he was dead, because he’s too old. You decide to mark human life spans, and reproduction cycles as something in need of study. You do have an envelope, and you would like to tell her personally. And you have cookies.

He seems somewhat confused by this. You tell him that you are a cook, and you were very stressed the first time, and you are pretty certain the only reason you were let into Maria’s apartment was because you brought scones. Pete laughs, and tells you that cookies are better. You agree, but tell him that Russel pointed a gun at you, because you showed up. You clarify that this has to do solely with the fact that you are a monster, and not with the baked goods. Pete looks very confused for a second and then motions you inside. He calls for his wife.

Gloria appears to be slightly less confused by the fact that you are there. She says something about people thinking that Russell had snapped. You are not sure what this means, but you nod anyway. She laughs, and you do not think that anyone is going to point a gun at you here. You begin taking the cookies out of your bag. They seem startled by how many cookies there are. Gloria informs you that they do not have any allergies. You tell her that that is good to know and ask her what an allergy is. She laughs, and informs you. You are mildly terrified by the complexities of humans. You tell her that her great uncle was killed by a guard dog in Snowdin. She asks you why. You tell her that he had killed many of the guards. She asks you why, quicker this time. You tell her that they were trying to kill him. She asks you why, with horror in her voice. You tell her the king had orders because both his children were dead, and monsters were without hope, and that led to dusting, without her having to ask. She asks you what dusting is, in a tone entirely too casual. You tell her it means death. She gasps, and looks at you with horror. Pete asks you how they died, in what seems like a respectful tone. You explain the intricacies of falling down. Pete tells you that he’s heard of people giving up on life, in death camps, and such, but not like that. You decide not to ask any further questions. Goria asks what happened to the dogs that killed her great-uncle. You tell her that the next human killed them, and most of Snowdin. They appear horrified. You tell them that Asgore is in jail. They seem conflicted. You tell them that you have a letter for them. It is not very large, and it is not for them, but it is all that you have for them, other than the cookies. And your contact information. Gloria looks at you curiously, but tells you that she will. She insists you take some of the cookies, but she keeps most of them for her kids. You wonder if you should stick around, but you do not want to deal with more questions today. You do not stick around. They do not read the letter until you are gone. You are glad. You do not want to relive writing it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You do not want to relive writing most of these letters.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kalem Montgomery lives in Ebott proper. You are glad that you will not have to ride the bus for miles. You are less glad when he opens the door and you realize that he is old for a human. He looks like Gerson. He might have known his aunt. You give him the apple bread.

As it turns out, Kalem has not met his aunt. He has, however met his uncle, and takes the murder thing instride, after apologizing. He tells you that after the explanation that his uncle had some issues, and his aunt had probably had them before his parents did something. Surrounded by people who want to kill her? She wasn’t likely to hold back.

You are glad to have an explanation. At last. You think that if it is this quick to come, that it must be typical for humans. Humans are very strange. You do not want to think about what happened with Adelaide's parents. You hope she is happy, wherever she is. You hope she is stable. You eat the apple bread, and trade stories that get lighter as time goes on. You make sure that he can contact you.You do not have a letter for him. You resolve to come back, soon. This was pleasant. You have another friend you think. Not your age, but closer than most of these humans. In scale, probably closer than most monsters.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bettiana Holman is six hours away. Papyrus takes you there in his car. You do not appreciate it nearly as much as he does. You find driving tiring, he really enjoys it. You do enjoy chatting with him, though. He is very, very cheerful, although he can be sad. You are often sad. The job that you are doing is not a happy one, even if it is sometimes cheerful. You are not looking forward to the last time you will have to do. You read, and you sing along to the radio and you tell him stories about the children and he reacts well. You drop by Bettiana’s house while Papyrus goes to make a reservation at a hotel. Bettiana nearly jumps when you show up. You brought muffins. Blueberry. She was apparently not expecting you.

She gives you a seat in the living room. Her children look even more surprised to see you. You ask them what their names are. Mina and Dean. You tell them that you have something very mature to talk about with their mother. They seem unsatisfied. You tell them that it is about their great-aunt, and you will be speaking about how they died. You tell them that you will tell them stories about Alex later. You give them a muffin each. Bettiana tells you to call her Betty. You tell her Asgore killed her Auncle. She stares at you. You tell her it is a gender neutral version of uncle. She tells you that Alexander was a boy. You tell her that Alex was not a boy. Or a girl. She takes this with some measure of grace. She asks why Asgore killed them. You tell her about the barrier. She looks at you with terror in her eyes. You hand her a muffin. She had not heard the legend of Mount Ebott. You think it is a sad fate for monsters to become just a story of a small town. She thinks you would be free faster if people knew. You remind her that they would need to kill people to get you out of there. She informs you of the death penalty. You are horrified. You bring the children back in. Betty invites you to dinner. You ask if you can bring your friend. You track down Papyrus, and ask him to dinner. You have salmon and delicious biscuits. You demand the recipe, and tell everybody about all of the experiments you used to run on the inhabitants of New Home. Nothing too bad, just mild confusion. You think you might have a better understanding of why your father kept trying to bring you to the royal scientist for a check-up. ~~You went, and you asked so many questions that~~ ~~they kicked you out and told your father that being a pest did not make you a threat to anyone’s life. They weren’t very pleasant to be around. It was in the middle of a more severe crisis, though, so you can't say you blame them.~~ Anyway, it is a pleasant evening.You give them the packet of letters. Perseverance always had a lot to say. The hotel is not pleasant. You are sure that if anyone other than Papyrus had been getting rooms, you would not have a room for tonight. At least the bed is comfortable. You spend a large portion of the way back arguing about morality. You think he might have done his job.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joanna Mathews is not in Ebott. She is in Staking, the nearest city. It is the most populated place you have been. It is smokey and crowned near her apartment. You do not mind too much, but it is jarring at first. Oh gosh. This is the first time the person will have known the child. You brought cupcakes. Chocolate. She does not look too shocked. This is not a surprise. You have seen other monsters around the city. The apartment is small. She does not have a chair big enough for you, so you sit on the bed. It is a nice bed. She asks you what you are doing there. You inform her of the passing of her brother. She starts crying. Oh Toriel. Mmmm. You hug her until she stops shaking. She tells you that she knew he was dead, but having someone tell her is so much worse. You agree. She asks if it was painful. You tell her that you weren’t there, but Asgore always seemed torn up about killing the children, so you doubt it would be painful. She starts crying again. You hug her again. She asks you, through tears, if he was so torn up about it, why didn’t he stop. You tell her that you don’t know. You tell her that it was probably hard to stop once he had started.She tells you that your answer isn’t good enough. You ask her if there was a good enough answer. She cries. You tell her that she can ask Asgore himself for answers if she wants to. She tells you that that will be unnecessary. You offer her a cupcake. She complains of the sugar content. She eats two. She is the only person so far who seems to really appreciate your contact information. She tells you that she can not stand to hear stories right now, but that she would like to do so later. You give her the letter. She sets it aside and hugs you. You would be half-glad if any of the people before had discarded their letters. This one is sweet and addressed to her, not in the distant way that Bravery had, but in a loving way. Not for the person she is now, but close.You cried over that letter, in happiness. You think you love this family. More so than you could have ever loved the rest of them, in any case. You hope she treasures it. You feel worthy hopefulness at being able to write that letter. You only regret that you do not have Kindness to bring with you.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You need to get a passport.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nine hours is a lot of time on a plane.

You’ll manage.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People at the airport seem uncomfortable. You suppose this is because they have either not heard the legends, or they are fleeing. Never occurred to them that the monsters might get on the planes, too. You almost laugh. You sound more like Orange as you are exposed to the world. You suppose being like Orange isn’t the worst thing you could be.

You have three people walk away from you when you sit down to board the flight. Luck for you, when you get seated on board the actual flight you are near a window, and the person next to you pulls out a book, and tells you to wake them up if there’s an emergency, and then informs you that the safety briefing does not constitute an emergency, because they have heard it a million times before. You nod. The person two seats down looks mildly apprehensive, but that only lasts until the snack cart comes around, and you have to ask about how to make your brain feel like it’s not exploding. They recommend gum. You take note. You have books with you, and music. You have been previously informed that you should keep your headphones in, that not everyone wants to listen to everyone’s music. You find this doubtful, but comply anyway. You sleep.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You show up at Suzanne and Joseph Feeney’s house thirty-four minutes after you get in the taxi. You have reservations nearby. You are glad that the plane did not affect your sleep like it did those around you. You do not think that you could do this otherwise.

You ring the doorbell. Joseph answers. He asks you what you are doing, on this continent, at this time in the evening. You tell him that you are there to inform him of the death of his son. You give him the angel’s food cake. He breaks in front of you. You hold him.

Suzanne comes after about five minutes, and asks you what you have done to her husband. You inform her that her child is dead. She holds together better. You can see the cracks, though. You hand him over to her, and sit on the couch. She asks you why. You tell her that the king of the monsters killed him, in Ebott, for his soul, so they could break the barrier. She asks you how, full of pain. You tell her of dust and dead children, and how monsters cling to hope. Joseph tells you, through his tears, that getting killed by despair isn’t a great way to die. You laugh, and agree. You tell them about Sans, and ask them what a judge is supposed to do, on the surface. They ask you if you could have asked a monster who had been on the surface. You tell them that you were not close with Asgore, or Gerson, and did not know that Toriel was still alive, and your parents had fallen down. Suzanne squeezes your hand. You appreciate that. They inform you not only of the intended purpose of the justice system, but the state that it is in now. You are horrified. You eat cake and listen to their stories, and occasionally respond in kind, but he was never very free around you, so you do not have many. You tell them the other children’s stories, though. They ask what happened to them. You cry, and tell them about the Barrier. They hug you. You hand them the letter. You did not picture theser people when you wrote the letter, but Dalton would never be so inappropriate as to have an earnest conversation about feelings, so you think that this is the best you will get out of this situation.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hotel is nice enough, but you can feel your hope grow thin as you step outside, on your way to the airport. Maybe you can just… let go? Let go of it all? You have performed your duty to the souls. Maybe it’s time to join them. Maybe it’s time to join your parents, and ask a lot of people questions. Chara’s still here, but you think that those questions can wait. Talk to the old captain of the guard. See how monsters and humans make peace in paradise. See what’s so different about the afterlife. Sounds nice. There are things for you here, but there will always be something for you here. You are done. You can finally fade. That sounds peaceful. You think you'd like some peace now.

Your phone rings. You let it go to voicemail. You listen to the voicemail. It is from Kalem. He says “Hey, sorry, but some of my nieces would really like to hear some of the stories that you have of Addy. I know you don’t have most of her stories, but they would really appreciate it. I was wondering if you would like to call them when you get back. I can make some pumpkin bread, if you want. I like pumpkin bread. Have you tried it before? Call me back. Or just come by sometime, if you want to bake together.”

You would like to bake with Kalem. You also have to make meals for every single member of Toriel’s court. And if somebody wants to get in contact with you, you need to still be there for them to be able to contact you. Which means you still have to be alive.

Ah well, you’ve lasted this long. You can stay alive a few more centuries.

**Author's Note:**

> Bet you weren't expecting a dessert, huh?


End file.
